After Mike Richards' 'Jeopardy!' Exit, Attention Turns To Mayim Bialik's Controversial Comments

It was always going to be difficult to replace an icon like Alex Trebek, but closing in on a year since his passing, it's difficult to imagine how the quest to find his successor on Jeopardy! could have gone any worse.

Last week, Mike Richards resigned as the permanent host of Jeopardy! after the discovery of a scandalous harassment lawsuit in his past and sexual and racist comments he made on his former podcast. Now that Richards is out, the same scrutiny is being applied to the past of Mayim Bialik, hired to host spin-off and tournament series of the show, and people are not happy with what they've found.

After growing popular as a star of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Bialik gave numerous interviews over the past decade, where she made comments that at the time were at worst mildly controversial, but in 2021, are highly controversial.

For starters, in 2012, she published a parenting guide where she wrote about deciding to not vaccinate her children.

“We made an informed decision not to vaccinate our children," she wrote, "but this is a very personal decision that should be made only after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child’s health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status."

In light of the COVID-19 and the country's frustration with the anti-vaccination movement's role in allowing it to continue, the idea that Bialik is an anti-vaxxer is a highly damaging one, though Bialik clarified she immunized her children in 2015 and has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

People also discovered questionable comments Bialik made about babies birthed by C-section as opposed to "natural" birth. Bialik once wrote in an email to a SELF magazine writer that "There are those among us who believe that if the baby can't survive a home labor, it is OK for it to pass peacefully. I do not subscribe to this, but I know that some feel that…if a baby cannot make it through birth, it is not favored evolutionarily." While Bialik made clear she does not ascribe to the belief, some interpreted her commentary as giving credence to those who believe such a thing.

People also remembered her 2017 article about Harvey Weinstein at the dawn of the #MeToo era, which critics called "slut-shaming" and "victim-blaming" after she criticized Hollywood culture for encouraging the objectification of women while she touted her own modest dressing.

Additionally, she has also described herself as a proud Zionist when talking to the Huffington Post in 2017, saying she supported Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory that have been deemed illegal by the United Nations.

To top it off, she is a spokeswoman for Neurivina, which has been criticized for selling unproven "nootropics" that other publications have described as "snake oil."

Whereas Richards resigned for relatively clear breaches of social propriety, Bialik's past has a lot of grey area, and it's unclear if Sony Pictures will step in. Jeopardy! has yet to give a statement on Bialik's past and has stated it will return to the weekly guest-host format until they find a suitable replacement for Richards. The rumor is that former legendary Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings is the favorite to take the nightly-hosting gig. Of course, Jennings has publically dealt with some skeletons in his past as well.